I’m reliably informed that the “senior role” at Kraft being taken up by former Cadbury European chief Tamara Minick-Scokalo is head of European confectionery.

She will therefore be the pivotal figure in integrating Kraft’s existing product range – principally Toblerone and Milka – with the newly acquired brands at Cadbury.

Readers of this blog may recall that she left Cadbury in slightly mysterious circumstances at the beginning of last July. An American with 20 years experience in Procter marketing, Minick-Scokalo moved to Europe a few years back (she is based in Geneva) and took on the top marketing/general management roles at US wine maker E&J Gallo, then Elizabeth Arden. Two years as head of global commerce at Cadbury Schweppes followed. She afterwards became European president of the demerged Cadbury confectionery operation, in January 2009. As such, Minick-Scokalo sat on the Cadbury executive board, reported directly to chief executive Todd Stitzer, and had control over Cadbury’s confectionery operations in both East and West Europe: that is, over 10,000 employees, €1bn annual sales and numerous factories.

But Stitzer, up to this point her champion, let her go after only six months in what appears to have been a selective senior management cull designed to cut costs.

How fortuitous then, that Kraft should launch a takeover bid for Cadbury in September and, having sown up the deal a few days ago, hire Minick-Scokalo to mastermind the brands’ integration from March 1. Whatever else may be wrong with the corporate “merger” (Warren Buffett is the expert on that matter, not me) integration of the two confectionery operations in Europe looks like an obvious fit. Cadbury, outside the chocolate-gobbling UK, is a patchwork quilt in need of further rationalisation; Kraft, on the other hand, already has strong Euro brands in Milka, Toblerone and Terry’s.

I do hope the senior managers who stay on at Cadbury (the top three having already quit) were nice to Minick-Scokalo before she left. Ignasi Ricou, who succeeded Minick-Scokalo as Cadbury president of Europe, and Phil Rumbol, UK marketing director, will no doubt be polishing their CVs just in case.

I imagine she will also have a hugely enhanced fan club in the marketing services world. Ogilvy, for example, handles the Toblerone brand and JWT does Kraft corporate advertising. Fallon need not lose all hope, however. Minick-Scokalo championed the ‘Gorilla’ advertising campaign.

Tamara Minick-Scokalo, head of Cadbury Europe, is leaving the company at the end of July. That much we know for a fact. The more interesting question is why.

According to Cadbury ceo Todd Stitzer, the departure is no more than a delayering exercise aimed at surmounting the “cost challenge” belabouring us all in these straitened times. Ignasi Ricou, currently head of Cadbury commercial operations Europe, looks like being the gainer. He will become president while retaining his commercial functions.

But wait a minute, wasn’t Minick-Scokalo Todd’s blue-eyed girl? That’s certainly what the P&G-bred marketing executive was billed as. She joined only two and a half years ago, from Elizabeth Arden, as global commercial chief and was catapulted to president of Europe last January.

It’s strange, even careless, to let your head of Europe go after six months in the post. Perhaps there were personal reasons? Perhaps she wanted to move on? Maybe. In which case it’s a curious coincidence that her departure has been wrapped up in a management reshuffle that also involves the legal department.

At any event, Fallon London (of ‘Gorilla’ and twitching eyebrows fame) should watch its back. She was the agency’s biggest champion.